What size are the cam cover bolts?

 

The threads are 6 x 1.0 mm.

 

Find a shop that does this...

http://www.metal-disintegrators.com/

I had it done on a HD Panhead tranny years ago. Worked like a charm. Ask if they EDM.

 

That is pretty neat stuff, but most shops, even automotive machine shops are not going to have EDM stuff.

 

i drilled with a regular bit,
not sure if i should continue, and add heat, or lubricant,
or go with heat and extractor, or reverse bit, heat lubricant

 

That does not look centered to me, did you get a bit off?

 

I only have access to a regular propane torch
Do you think I can get it hot enough with this?

Still not sure if I should try an extractor or a reverse drill bit.

My hole might be slightly off center :-(

 

No, and it is not only about the heat, it is also about how much heat you can get into the part in a short amount of time.

 

Propane torch does not get it hot enough. I have an acetylene torch and that also does not get it hot enough sometimes. I am not a pro but my understanding is that if the bolt is stuck enough to break than it has to be unstuck (heat or lubricant) before you can really extract it. Sometimes if you drill through, it reduces the circumference enough to break the bond. But I have never been successful.
Bilal

 

Can you set it to STUN as well as KILL?

 

That is why I use a 1/4" ratchet and two fingers of pressure when I tighten these on. If the gasket is installed properly the valve cover will not leak even with very light torque.

I was lucky on my dis assembly, some of the bolts were bottomed out but they just unthreaded the mounting studs on the way out. I just had to loosen the cover evenly in order to keep it from binding then I removed the mounting stud from the bolt on my work bench when I had the cover off.

Take Greg's advice on this one, but if your hole is drilled off center you may have new challenges. From the pic it looks like the hole is almost as big as the bolt you are drilling out.

 

Working on an Eng re-fresh I have 3 that are bottomed out (stuck) two on one head and one on the 5-8 head. I'm going to try this, hoping it works for me too.
To me it would be better to add a spaces (washer) under the cam cover bolt head to gain additional clamping power and not bottom out and lock the shoulder bolt.

I've had success in drilling and using a hela coil kit from Auto Zone in the past.

Thanks Ted for the suggestion

 

how hard is it to remove the head?

 

I believe you have head studs instead of bolts. Gonna have to pull the engine to get it off. Not that bad a job. About 6 hours by yourself. I think the hardest part IMHO is threading the wiring harness by yourself. In and out of the car, in and out of the car.

 

You can also remove all the connections from the engine and lay the harness over the Right fender, the Front Harness is disconnected from under the car (starter and Alt.) and comes out w/ the eng.
I find this way I'm not disturbing the inside CE connections. Please do a search both ways are covered here.